Arum Barut Collection

“Fantastic family holiday”

We stayed at the Arum Barut for 11 nights in mid April. This was our second visit, having stayed previously last year late April into early May. We are a family of 6 (4 kids aged 10 and under) and whilst AI isn’t our usual type of holiday, we were looking for somewhere we could all enjoy and r... more

We stayed at the Arum Barut for 11 nights in mid April. This was our second visit, having stayed previously last year late April into early May. We are a family of 6 (4 kids aged 10 and under) and whilst AI isn’t our usual type of holiday, we were looking for somewhere we could all enjoy and relax. We had such a wonderful holiday last Spring that we decided to return again this year - and once again, we were blown away by the fantastic hospitality, beautiful grounds and great facilities. We stayed in a Residence room. These are perfect for families and located in the garden area of the hotel with some lovely views. Rooms were renovated fairly recently so all in great condition with modern decor and plenty of drawers and wardrobes. A big plus for anyone with young kids: the rooms all have fantastic floor-to-ceiling black out curtains so we all slept really well! Our room was kept spotlessly clean and replenished daily with shower gel, shampoo, conditioner etc. The quality of food and drinks is exceptional for the most part. The kids loved the variety of breakfast options in the buffet restaurant. For lunch, we generally ate at the Bonsai and enjoyed the wonderful sea views and excellent service (the fantastic waiters always remembered our drinks order). We also had a couple of lovely lunches enjoying the savoury and sweet gozlemes that were made to order at the beach bar. Dinners in the buffet restaurant had different themes each evening, offering fantastic choice and quality. We ate at both the Turkish and International a la cartes. Both were fantastic - delicious food and wonderful service. Kids can choose to eat from the main menus or from a separate kids menu which is offered. We had enjoyed eating at the Asian a la carte and Burger Inn last year (both were excellent) but neither were open when we visited this year in mid April which was a shame. Our favourite time of the day was enjoying a pre-dinner drink down at the beach bar, enjoying the stunning views and beautiful sunsets. Special thanks to Alper for looking after us all so well, and being so kind to the kids (even the crazy youngest one!) The facilities were all excellent. One large unheated outdoor pool and another slightly smaller outdoor pool which was heated. This was one of the reasons why we originally booked the hotel and it’s a great feature. For a family with young kids it makes such a difference and is a real selling point when many other similar resorts in Turkey do not offer a heated pool in April. I did wonder if the heated pool was slightly cooler than last year but think the weather was a little hotter so it was generally fine. The bigger colder pool was perfectly swimmable in for adults and older kids! The indoor pool (and indoor kids pool) were also open - and were the warmest ones! My kids enjoyed popping in to use them sometimes. There is a small unheated children’s pool which was fine to splash around in on warmer days and the slides as well which were open at certain times of the day and enjoyed by our older kids! There was a foam party in the pool one afternoon and an inflatable obstacle course another day which were great fun and gave the place a brilliant buzz. The resort is a great size and we felt relaxed letting our kids meet friends at the mini golf or play park. Our younger two loved dipping in and out of the kids club and doing some really fun activities (they all loved making cookies!). Special thanks to Rabia, Ceren, Julia and Chiko for being so kind and enthusiastic - our 5 year old is particularly fond of you all! Tony looks after the 8-11 year olds and was always encouraging our son to get involved! Our kids loved heading down to the mini disco in the Gazania disco after dinner, which was followed by a nightly show at 9pm. We enjoyed all the shows so weren’t usually at the beach bar or pool bar later in the evening though the live music in both always seemed good. It’s a shame the amphitheatre doesn’t get used until May as the Gazania disco, with its low ceiling, wasn’t the best venue for some of the shows and could do with a refresh but we still all enjoyed the entertainment and usually stayed for a wee dance afterwards! We spent most days in the hotel but it is situated on a nice promenade which offers the opportunity to have some lovely walk along the seafront, passing other hotels. It’s about a 3km walk along the promenade to the old town of Side (or 5 min taxi ride). The old town of Side has been rebuilt which isn’t great but it’s still an attractive place for a wander and the Apollo temple and amphitheatre are well worth a visit. Overall we had a fantastic holiday and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the hotel. The level of service, from all staff, is fantastic and the managers and guest relations team will make an effort to speak to guests around the hotel and are genuinely keen to get feedback to continue making improvements. I had emailed prior to our visit with a couple of requests and the team (particularly Emre) could not have been more helpful in trying to fulfil them. Thank you to everyone for a fantastic stay!

less